


hiding in plain sight

by bokutoma



Series: sylvix week 2019 [6]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: M/M, Shenanigans, Sylvain Jose Gautier Is An Idiot, felix sticks up for his stupid boyfriend, we know this and we love him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 17:22:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21080264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bokutoma/pseuds/bokutoma
Summary: sylvain should really stop breaking hearts before he gets his head lopped from his shouldersfake relationship // firsts // tea time





	hiding in plain sight

It’s been a foolish endeavor from the start, Sylvain knows, but avoiding the fine, upstanding young men who chase after him once he’s broken their relatives’s hearts has gotten more difficult than he could have anticipated. When he grabbed Felix from the training ground, sprinting full tilt across the monastery like Ailell itself is erupting behind him, he had honestly expected to be dumped on his ass. Instead, Felix had just run with him, and even when Sylvain had chanced a glance back only to see a murderous look on his best friend’s face, there hadn’t been any retribution.

Still, when they reach the gardens and Sylvain all but shoved him into a seat, Felix demands an explanation.

“What the fuck are you doing, fool?” he snarls, confusion twisting across his face, so obvious through the frustration that Sylvain finds it amazing how unreadable others find him. “Dragging me away for tea? What could possibly be this urgent?”

Idly, he thinks he can feel droplets of sweat tracing paths down the back of his neck. “This is going to sound stupid, but I need you to stay with me on this, okay? I need a favor.”

To his credit, Felix only rolls his eyes.

“So, I may or may not have gone out with a girl that neglected to mention that her brother is a crazy fucking axe murderer, yeah? I...cut things off yesterday, and I guess she didn’t like that, because he’s going nuts trying to find me.”

“What do I have to do with this in the least?” Felix huffs, crossing his arms.

This idea is just as likely to get himself beaten by Felix rather than this anonymous man, but he supposed that’s better anyway.

“As of this moment, we’re dating,” Sylvain says, then squeezes his eyes shut and braces for impact.

What he hears, however, is merely the sound of Felix choking on his own spit, and when Sylvain opens his eyes, he’s redder than any flower.

“Reconsider what you just said, you insatiable fool!” Felix is sputtering, tripping over his words like he hasn’t since he was half Sylvain’s size.

“Not for real!” His hands come up protectively, placatingly, palms out like he’s an innocent. “I just need you to pretend we’re going out so I have plausible deniability when he tracks me down!”

The sigh Felix emits as he drops his head into his hands is astoundingly long and loud for someone of his size. “You owe me.”

“Anything you want,” Sylvain promises. “Just help me stay alive.”

Sylvain spins around to grab them some tea, not to mention those horrible bitter pastries Felix is so fond of, so he only catches part of what his best friend mutters beneath his breath, something about doing a disservice to all of Fódlan. It sends a thrill through him, knowing that there’s no one else on the continent Felix would go to this much trouble for (a little preposterous, maybe, but he’s sure he’s right), and when he sits down again, tea brewing in the pot, he can’t fight the grin that climbs across his face, settling like it’s made a permanent home.

“You won’t be grinning for long,” Felix grumbles. While Sylvain is sure that’s true, he can’t really bring himself to care.

The tea has only just finished brewing when the man busts in.

“Where is he?” he roars, and the few others in the garden freeze. He looks around wildly, like one of those rabid dogs Felix is so keen on using as metaphors, and when his eyes land on their table, the fear of the Goddess blooms in Sylvain’s chest.

“_You_,” he growls, stalking closer. “You’re the scrawny little bastard who fucked over my sister.”

Sylvain is going to have some words with the gatekeeper.

“Huh?” He tilts his head in that way Ingrid hates, the one that manages to disarm all but the most cautious. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play coy with me, you little brat.” The man looks like he’s itching to grab for the axe strapped to his back, and suddenly, Sylvain is distinctly glad that Felix always keeps his sword on him. “I know who you are. This is exactly where she said I’d find you.”

The scent of pine hangs like a blanket in the air, and Sylvain is suddenly aware that Felix has not only poured but downed a cup of tea, and now slides out of his seat sinuously, danger rocking off him like lightning.

“Your name,” he says, all ice with an undercurrent of steel. It’s more attractive than Sylvain would necessarily like to admit. “State it.”

The fool spits at Felix’s feet, and when the ghost of a smile haunts his face, Sylvain almost feels pity. “A worm doesn’t need my name. ‘Sides, what business is it of yours?”

Felix’s hand dances around the pommel of his blade. “When a wretch comes sniffing after my partner like a diseased, starving, rat, I like to know who they are before I eviscerate them.”

Scratch what he thought before, Sylvain is perfectly willing to admit that this protective side of Felix s the hottest thing he’s ever seen.

The man, like the idiot he is, laughs. “A puny little thing like you? Without a sword, you’re nothing more than an ant.”

Faster than Sylvain’s eye can follow, Felix has the other man on bended knee, arm wrapped tightly around the thick muscle of his neck. “Rethink that belief. Better yet, leave and pray that our paths never cross again. I would enjoy wetting my blade with your blood.”

The man complies.

“That was incredible,” Sylvain says, still slack-jawed even as he tries to remedy the situation. “Good thing the professor taught you to brawl, huh?”

Felix lifts an already arched eyebrow in disdain, but Sylvain knows enough to see the fondness that lays underneath. “Good thing I’m willing to clean up your mess.”

Later, Sylvain will try to pretend that this next move was intentional, that he really is just as smooth as always. Felix won’t contradict him - he’s not cruel, just a little mean - but the withering look he’ll get will deliver the same message.

When Sylvain’s lips meet Felix’s cheek, it feels right

“What was that for?” Felix’s voice is surprisingly steady, but there’s an undercurrent Sylvain can hear, one that eats at him.

“For being you,” he says. He’s not sure what he expects from that confession, but there’s nothing to it. In this moment, all he can be is honest.

He certainly doesn’t expect Felix’s fingers to loop into his belt and tug him forward until their lips meet.

It’s a thing indescribable, this small union of flesh, and though he’s gone much further than this, Sylvain feels as though this is the first he was always meant to have, pure and visceral. When they part, Felix meets his eyes with a gaze so painfully clear that Sylvain’s chest constricts, and he is lost.

Felix pushes him into a chair, and he’s so dazed that all he can do is laugh as his friend - that doesn’t seem like the right word - takes his seat across from him. “What are you doing?”

“Continuing our first date.” The words are as clear and concise as ever, but Sylvain can read uncertainty in the familiar lines of his face. “What are _you_ doing?”

If Sylvain is a little loopy, he thinks that’s understandable. “Just the same.”

**Author's Note:**

> @kingblaiddyd


End file.
